Only cats: photographs of house-proud felines at leisure
Swiss photographer Pascale Weber takes cat photography to new heights in a new book published by Hatje Cantz. In For Cats Only, every cat has got the cream.
![Cat photography by Pascale Weber shows cats playing in cat trees on colourful backgrounds in the photographer's new book For Cats Only](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/oxWzTEnmyJBQTyTsYZEnEJ-415-80.jpg)
We’ve all heard of the hamster wheel, the aquarium, and the rabbit hutch, but the cat tree is – apparently – the must-have accessory for any spoilt moggy.
In her new photography book, For Cats Only, published by Hatje Cantz, Zurich-based photographer Pascale Weber travelled through Switzerland, armed with her portable studio to photograph cats in and on their kitty domiciles – an ordinary accessory becomes an extraordinary piece of domestic theatre.
These house-proud felines of all shapes and sizes frolic, recline, play, scratch and flirt with the camera – it’s enough to induce intrigue at the very least, almost certainly a chuckle, and probably a few questions. Following the wide-ranging series of cats in trees, pictograms of the various scratching posts follow – tinged with humour and charm.
The images are still lifes in their own right, the cats partaking in their own micro-dramas as they attempt to defy gravity and keep their paws on their nine lives. Set against a boldly coloured background, the inhabited structures and stretching post become almost architectural, sophisticated and stylish, each with its own wildly different shape and function.
Swiss photographer Pascale Weber studied photo design at the Schule für Gestaltung in Bern and is known for vividly-coloured, graphic still life photographs, as well as collaborations with the likes of Sensai Cosmetics, Aqvarossa, Fujifilm and Frida Verde.
In For Cats Only she has created something which serves as both tongue-in-cheek entertainment as an education manual in how a cat tree need not be a worn-out eyesore in the corner of the room, but a bold centrepiece.
It’s a niche, certainly, but Weber and her precise lens are proving that even the most practical of pet accessories can have aesthetic – and comic – value. If you weren’t already a cat person, we presume you are now.
INFORMATION
For Cats Only by Pascale Weber, €18.00, from Hatje Cantz. hatjecantz.de
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
Harriet Lloyd-Smith was the Arts Editor of Wallpaper*, responsible for the art pages across digital and print, including profiles, exhibition reviews, and contemporary art collaborations. She started at Wallpaper* in 2017 and has written for leading contemporary art publications, auction houses and arts charities, and lectured on review writing and art journalism. When she’s not writing about art, she’s making her own.
-
Postcard from Paris: Olympic fever takes over the streets
On the eve of the opening ceremony of Paris 2024, our correspondent shares her views from the streets of the capital about how the event is impacting the urban landscape.
By Minako Norimatsu Published
-
The Mercury Prize nominees for 2024 have been revealed
Charli XCX, The Last Dinner Party and Beth Gibbons are amongst this year's nominees
By Charlotte Gunn Published
-
Tour the Natural History Museum’s new gardens, a Jurassic lark in London
The Natural History Museum in London has unveiled two new gardens, with resident dinosaurs, after a transformation led by architects Feilden Fowles
By Bridget Downing Published